For the producers of HBO’s hit series Game of Thrones , it seemed like a good problem to have at the time.
Looking back at Game of Thrones season one, the show’s producers knew that if they were ever to arrive at a point in time where their story lines caught up to the Game of Thrones novels, written by George R.R. Martin, then that would mean they had a successful show on their hands. Again, a good problem to have to deal with. But now, with Game of Thrones season four set to premiere April 6th on HBO, there is definitive worry amongst fans – and even the show’s producers themselves: George R.R. Martin can’t write fast enough to stay ahead.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly , HBO programming president Michael Lombardo echoed what Game of Thrones fans had been worried about since the show debuted:
“I finally understand fans’ fear — which I didn’t a couple years ago: What if the storytelling catches up to the books? Let’s all hope and pray that’s not going to be a problem.”
And while the Game of Thrones producers – specifically show runners David Benioff and Dan Weiss – have managed to distance themselves somewhat from Martin’s novels by splitting the Game of Thrones third book, A Storm of Swords into two parts, there is still fear creeping into the minds of fans everywhere regardless. Couple that with the fact that Benioff and Weiss also admitted to EW that they would like to wrap Game of Thrones after seven seasons and the notion of stretching the material to give George R.R. Martin more of a lead goes over the proverbial “White Wall”.
Still, Martin himself isn’t worried. In an interview with Vanity Fair recently, George spoke at length at how the producers might be able to stall so that he could finish writing the last two Game of Thrones novels in the event they exceed seven seasons:
“The season that’s about to debut covers the second half of the third book…But there are two more books beyond that, A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons . A Dance with Dragons is itself a book that’s as big as A Storm of Swords . So there’s potentially three more seasons there, between Feast and Dance , if they split into two the way they did [with Storms ].”
Martin also hinted that the producers might try doing a “prequel season” of some kind to give him the time to complete his work. Regardless, Game of Thrones fans can only wait and see. And Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin meanwhile, can only write, write, write.